Besides, there are worse things a girl can be known for in life.
It used to bother her. She wanted to hate him for it – who wants to think her entire existence can be narrowed down to those three words? – but he was always so damn aww-shucks about it that it didn't feel right to get mad. Now those words are like an elixir when she's spazzing out about mundane things. When she forgets where she leaves her keys or misplaces the glasses sitting on top of her head, he tilts his head back with a hearty laugh and says, “Sweetheart, you’re a beautiful mess.” She smiles, breathes in and out and calms (and usually notices the glasses on her head and cringes in embarrassment).
He never says it with an ounce of unkindness or sarcasm. His gaze is always adoring as he looks at her like “how did I get so lucky to have this beautiful mess in my life” and sometimes she thinks it’s just too much and there must be something more sinister, but it’s hard to fake his sincerity. It’s another reason they’re a bizarre mishmash of a life thrown together. She’s frazzled imperfections wrapped in a snarky cloth. Sincerity has never been nor will it ever be her forte and he’s earnest and thoughtful and optimistic.
Somewhere in the universe, someone made a mistake and some sweet farm girl is suffering through a day with a surly fellow reading the Sunday paper and complaining about all that is wrong with the world. She thinks maybe she should feel bad about that, but it’s not in her nature.
Sucks to be you, farm girl, but this beautiful mess is going to hold onto what she’s been given.
For the Indie Ink Writing Challenge this week, Random Girl challenged me with "she was a beautiful mess" and I challenged Kelly Garriott Waite with "start a piece with the line, 'One day of work was all that stood between me and...'" and her wonderful response can be found here.
Note: This piece definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. Work has been busy the past two weeks again and I've found myself blocked in some ways, so this was a great time for this type of challenge. My goals with this were to try something new and not to over-think it too much. Not sure if I succeeded yet, but I tried.
4 comments:
I´d like to be her, at least for a day to know what it feels like to be that way. :)
Very smooth writing, you are pulled right into the story.
I loved this story, it was a wonderful piece. The narrator's voice was so lovely and the characters you developed so compelling. Nice job.
I think that this was great, and I loved the farm girl image at the end. This is my first II challenge week so the first time I've read anything of yours, but I definitely want to check out some of your past entries to see what your comfort zone IS - because this sounded quite comfortable to me.
A lovely sort of 'opposites attract' fairytale.
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